Railway-crossing signal



(No Model.) 3 Sheets-Sheet 1.

J.SHOEGRAF T. RAILWAY GRDSSI NG SIGNAL.

No. 565,518. Patented Aug. 11, 1896.

WITNESSES:

M YEA 70R ATTORNEYS.

(No Modem 3 Sheath-Sheet 2. I

J. SHOP-CRAFT.

I RAILWAY CROSSING SIGNAL. o. 565,518. Patented Aug. 11, 1896.

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UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

JUDSON SHOEORAFT, OF HARVEYVILLE, KANSAS.

RAILWAY-CROSSING SIGNAL.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 565,518, dated August 11, 1896.

Application filed September 17, 1895. Serial No. 562,775. (No model.)

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, J UDSON SHOECRAFT, of Harvey ville, in the county of Wabaunsee and State of Kansas, have invented a new and Improved Railway-Crossin g Signal, of which the following is a full, clear, and exact description.

This invention relates to that class of signals which are employed at railway-crossings to give warning, usually by sounding a bell or the'like, of the approach of a train; and the object of the invention is to'provide a device of this character adapted to be operated electrically on a broken circuit, so that should the battery or other generator used in said circuit run down or the connections become impaired this fact may be known by the continuous sounding of the alarm.

A further object of the invention is to provide a signal of this general character which shall be operated by the approach of a train in either direction toward said crossing, but which shall not be operated by the train after it has passed the crossing.

The invention consists in a signal, which may be conveniently a bell or gong, a motor to operate the same, an electromagnet having an armature arranged when drawn toward said magnet to hold the motor out of operation, an electric circuit including said magnet and a generator, and two circuitbreakers located on the track on opposite sides of the crossing and adapted to be operated by trains passing in either direction over the road to break said circuit.

The invention also contemplates certain novel features of the construction, combination, and arrangement of the various parts of the improved signal whereby certain important advantages are attained and the device is made simpler, cheaper, and otherwise better adapted for use than various other crossing-signals heretofore employed, all as will be hereinafter fully set forth.

The novel features of invention will be carefully defined in the claim.

Reference is to be had to the accompanying drawings, forming a part of this specification, in which similar characters of reference indicate corresponding parts in all the figures.

Figure 1 is a somewhat diagraphic view showing a portion of a line of railway, a roadcrossing, and a signal constructed in accordance with my invention. Fig. 2 is a front View showing a locomotive having devices adapted to operate the circuit-breakers used in my improved signal. Fig. 3 is a sectional view, taken through the casing wherein the signal-operating motor is inclosed, showing the construction of said motor. Fig. 4 is a view similar to Fig. 3, but showing the opposite side of the motor; and Fig. 5 is a sectional plan view showing the construction of the motor.

In the Views, 1 indicates the line of the railway, and 2 indicates the crossing adjacent to which is located the bell 4, arranged to be op erated by a motor mounted in a suitable casing 3 and controlled, as will be hereinafter explained, by an electromagnet 6, the arma ture 5 of which is connected to said motor.

The magnet 6 has its coil connected at one end to a Wire 7, leading to a contact-point '7, normally engaged by one end of a treadle-lever 8, mounted alongside one of the trackrails, from which treadle-lever extends a wire 9, leading through a battery 10 and to a treadle-lever 11, located alongside the trackrail on the side of the crossing 2 opposite the treadle-lever 8.

The treadle-levers will be located any desired distance from the crossing 2, and the lever 11 is normally held in contact with a contact-point 12 whence extends a wire 12 to the opposite end of the coil of the magnet 6 of the signal. In this way it will be understood the circuit from the generator will be normally closed, eXcept' when said treadlelevers 8 and 11 are depressed by a passing train, and when the circuit is closed and the magnet 6 excited so as to attract its armature 5 the motor of the signal device is held out of operation.

As shown in Fig. 2, the working parts of the signal device will usually be inclosed, excepting the bell 4, in a casing 13, mounted on a post 14 alongside the track adjacent to the crossing, and the locomotive (indicated at 15 in said figure) will usually be provided with rolling contact pieces or shoes 16 to engage the treadle-levers 8 and 11 of the circuitbreakers.

The armature 5 of the electromagnet 6 is mounted on a stem or lever 17, pivoted at 18 t0 the inner framework of the motor and having its Opposite end weighted, as indicated at 19 in Figs. 3, 4, and 5. Said lever is provided with an arm 20, engaging a notched lug 21 on a gear 22, forming one element of a train of clockwork driven from a spring 32, and said lever is also provided with a similar arm 26, having a lug 25 on its end, arranged to engage a notch 24 in a disk 23, fixed on a shaft having a gear-wheel forming one element of said clocktrain. Another gear-wheel 27 of said train is provided with pins 28, projecting from its arms in position to engage a lever or trip 29, pivoted at 30 and having at its end a hammer 31, arranged to strike the bell 4, and said trip or lever 29 is provided with a coiled spring 33, arranged to retract it after each movement.

In the operation of the device the parts of the motor are so arranged and proportioned that when the electromagnet is deenergized by the breaking of the signal-circuit the first time the weight 19 will tilt the armature lever 17 on its pivot 18, and draw the arm 20 out of engagement with the notched lug 21 on the wheel 22, so as to release the clock-train and permit the same to be set in motion by the spring The movement of the clocktrain continues only long enough for the gearwheel 22 to make one 1'6VOll1tlOl],'2LS the lug 25 does not raise out of the notch 24: until the circuit has been broken twice. It requires two revolutions of the wheel 22 to move the clock-train far enough to raise the lug 25 onto the periphery of the disk 23.

When the circuit through the electromagnet is next broken and said magnet is deenergized the second time, the tilting of the lever 17 will act to raise the arm 26 out of-the notch 24 in the disk 23, and also raise the arm 20 out of engagement with the notch or lug 21, so as to permit said disk to make a full rotation before the motor will be again stopped by the dropping of said arm 26 into engagement with said notch, and the consequent dropping of the arm 20 into engagement with the lug 21, as it is the arm 20 and lug 21 that lock the motor.

In setting up the crossing-signal for use, the circuit is broken once and this allows the wheel 22 to make one revolution, but does not move the disk 23 far enough to raise the lug 25 out of notch 24 until the circuit has been broken a second time by a passing train, which allows the wheel 22 to make one more revolution, and this permits the disk 23 to move far enough to raise the lug 25 entirely out of the notch 24, which releases the motor until the disk 23 has made one complete revolution, when the motor will be again locked, when it will require that the circuit be broken twice before it will release again. By this arrangement it will be seen that a railway-train passing along the line of track, say, for example, in the direction of the arrow 1) in Fig. 1,

will first break the circuit by depressing the treadle-lever 11, whereby the magnet 6 will be deenergized and the weight 19 permitted to tilt the lever 17, so as to lift the arm 26 out of engagement with the notch 24 in the disk 23 and also lift the arm 20 out of the lug 21, whereby the motor is permitted to operate during one rotation of said disk, the bell 4: being meanwhile sounded, so as to give warning at the crossing 2 of the approach of said train, provided the circuit has been broken once when the motor is set up.

hen the train passes the crossing 2, it next breaks the circuit by depressing the treadlelever 8, whereby the magnet 6 is again deenergized and the lever 17, which has by this time dropped down, so as to engage its arms 20 and 26 with the lug 21 and notch 24, will be again raised, so as to disengage the arm 20 from the lug 21, allowing the wheel 22 to make one revolution and set the motor in position to be again actuated by the breaking of the circuit by a train coming from either direction.

From the above description it will be understood that my improved signal is of an extremely simple and inexpensive construction and is adapted to give true warning of the approach of a train, but cannot be operated by a train which has passed the crossing, so that the liability of accidents resulting from misunderstood signals is greatly decreased.

It will also be understood that the arrangement of the various parts of the improved signal is susceptible of some modification without material departure from the principles and spirit of my invention, and for this reason I do not wish to be understood as limiting myself to the exact form and arrangement herein shown.

Ilavin g thus described my invention, I claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent A crossing-signal for railways comprising a signal located at the crossing, a motor for operating the signal, a circuit-breaker at each side of the crossing, a normally-closed electric circuit comprising a circuit-wire extending from one to the other of said circuitbreakers, a battery, a second circuit-wire extending from one to the other of the circuitbreakers, and an electromagnet for controlling the motor, means comprising a lever coacting with a lug on one of the motor-wheels for releasing the motor for a complete operation of the signal upon the operation of one circuit-breaker by a passing train, and means comprising a lever and a notched disk for se tting the motor for subsequent operation upon the operation of the second circuit-breaker by said passing train, substantially as specified.

JUDSON SI-IOECRAFT. Witnesses:

CHAS. G. TAYLOR, P. B. Do'rv. 

